The Rochesterian in Your Inbox:

RGRTA is building its new bus station on the site of the old RKO Palace. In probably the most shocking and horrific act of “urban renewal,” the ornate theater was torn down in the 1960s to make way for hotels that were never built. My dad kept his commemorative booklet of the theater. Read it and weep.

During the initial phase of construction, RGRTA has unearthed parts of the old theater, according to the Rochester Subway blog.

“We knew it was there. It wasn’t a surprise to find to find it,” said RGRTA’s Myriam Contiguglia. “Over the years the site has been disturbed.”

One Response to Blast From Past

Unfortunately the Buffalo firefighter story failed to mention that for years Buffalo has maintained 2 recruit lists. One is for white males, the other is for ‘minorities’. I met one of Buffalo’s female firefighters at a Buffalo firefighter’s funeral in 1997 and she told me that she that she came on the job because her father was a firefighter. Very admirable, but I now find it funny because for years the firefighters assigned to recruiting and background checks in the RFD actively tried to prevent white males who were the sons of firefighters from being hired claiming that multi-generational firefighting families were stealing jobs from minorities. There are now multi-generational minority firefighting families in the department so apparently it isn’t quite the issue it was claimed to be.
Also, the San Diego fire dept had an all female fire station years ago and has been at the front as far as recruiting female firefighters go. Departments like the San Diego FD recruit nationally, looking for the best of the best of all sexes and races. Unfortunately the recruiting process mandated by the RFD has been one that until recently prevented recruiters from going to places like local colleges or military bases where physically qualified women and minorities willing to apply might be easier to attract. This was because the leadership in the city diversity office wanted ‘city jobs for city residents’ and diversification of the department wasn’t really the goal, but providing jobs to city residents was the real goal.